Overhead communications with wireless wearable devices

ABSTRACT

Overhead communications with wireless wearable devices are disclosed. An example overhead wireless transmission interface apparatus includes a fixture to be mounted above a wearable device, where the wearable device includes a first antenna, and a base station associated with a second antenna, the second antenna coupled to the fixture and to wirelessly communicate with the first antenna, where at least one of the first antenna or the second antenna is circular polarized or diversity polarized.

RELATED APPLICATION

This patent arises as a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/668,534, which was filed on Aug. 3, 2017, and granted U.S. Pat. No.10,439,657, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/554,149, which wasfiled on Aug. 28, 2019. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/668,534 andU.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/554,149 are hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. Priority to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/668,534 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/554,149 ishereby claimed.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to high bandwidth wearable deviceapplications and, more particularly, to overhead communications withwireless wearable devices.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, head-mounted virtual reality devices have been used toprovide immersive experiences for users. These systems often employ amounted headset including goggles with screen displays corresponding toeach eye of a user to convey the illusion of movement or presence in adisplayed environment. Depending on the resolution of the screen displayused for each eye, relatively high signal communication rates, bandwidthand/or data throughput may be required to drive each of the screendisplays as well as support other functions of the headset.

Known virtual reality headsets are often wired to a host computer sothat the host computer can drive multiple displays while providing thenecessary bandwidth and/or data communication rates to these displays.However, these wired systems can be cumbersome and/or limit motion of auser. In particular, wires and/or cable assemblies used to provide thedata to the displays may cause undesirable pulling or resistance on auser.

Some known wireless virtual reality headsets utilize multiple radiomodules mounted to a single headset to account for a relatively narrowdata transmission coverage zone (e.g., a high data rate coverage zone)of a base station to which the radio modules communicate. In particular,communication rates and/or signal integrity of a radio module cangreatly decrease when the radio module is not oriented and/or within thedata transmission coverage zone due to relative narrowness of thetransmission coverage zone when the user turns around, ducks, shiftslaterally and/or bends during a virtual reality experience (e.g., avirtual reality game). In such known headsets, each of the RF moduleshave to be simultaneously powered on during the use and one of the RFmodules that face the base station is selected based on the userorientation which, in turn, is calculated using data from sensors, suchas accelerometers and gyroscopes. Accordingly, such known headsets canalso have tracking ranges as well as coverage gaps (e.g., orientationcoverage gaps), which can result in decreased communication rates and/ordecreased signal integrity, thereby potentially causing loss offunctionality and/or fidelity of these head-mounted displays.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates a known head-mounted virtual reality headset inwhich the examples disclosed herein may be implemented.

FIG. 1B illustrates a known wireless virtual reality system.

FIG. 1C illustrates another known wireless virtual reality system.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example wireless virtual reality system inaccordance with the teachings of this disclosure.

FIG. 3 is an overhead view illustrating relative antenna coverage zonesof the example wireless virtual reality system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an overhead view illustrating relative antenna coverage zonesof an alternative example virtual reality system.

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative example wireless virtual realitysystem.

FIG. 6 illustrates another example alternative wireless virtual realitysystem.

FIG. 7 is a schematic overview of an example steering control systemthat may be implemented with or in conjunction with the examplesdisclosed herein.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructionsthat may be executed to implement the example steering control system ofFIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a processor platform that may be used to execute the exampleinstructions of FIG. 8 to implement the example steering control systemof FIG. 7.

The figures are not to scale. Instead, to clarify multiple layers andregions, the thickness of the layers may be enlarged in the drawings.Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughoutthe drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the sameor like parts. As used in this patent, stating that any part is in anyway positioned on (e.g., positioned on, located on, disposed on, orformed on, etc.) another part, indicates that the referenced part iseither in contact with the other part, or that the referenced part isabove the other part with one or more intermediate part(s) locatedtherebetween. Stating that any part is in contact with another partmeans that there is no intermediate part between the two parts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overhead communications with wireless wearable devices are disclosed.Known virtual reality systems typically include a wired connection to awearable device such as a headset so that data communication rates(e.g., transmission rates, transmit/receive rates, wirelesscommunication rates, etc.) needed to drive multiple displays of theheadset can be maintained. However, these wired systems can becumbersome, limit motion of a user and/or hinder a virtual realityexperience.

Some known wireless headsets employ multiple transceiver/radio modulesto maintain the necessary wireless communication rates to drive theirrespective goggle displays. However, these known wireless headsets canhave tracking gaps (e.g., tracked only at certain orientations),orientations that result in intermittent data connections and/ororientations in which data communication rates are reduced such as whendata transmission is transferred between the transceiver modules (e.g.,during a handoff).

The examples disclosed herein enable sustained high bandwidth wirelesscommunication rates (e.g., transmission rates that support WirelessGigabit Alliance (WiGig) protocols) as well as stability of these highcommunication rates between a base station (e.g., a computer) and ahead-mounted device by utilizing a combination of overhead mounting inconjunction with polarized data transmission signals so that an antennaof the head-mounted device can be directed towards a relatively largecoverage zone (e.g., a high data rate communication zone, broad-sidecommunication sector(s), etc.) to maintain high bandwidthcommunications/transmissions to the base station transceiver when thehead-mounted device is significantly rotated and/or translated. Theexample transceivers in communication with such an antenna may beimplemented as a transmitter/receiver pair that is wired to a personalcomputer, which functions as a base station.

The examples disclosed herein enable maintenance of high bandwidth datarates at almost any orientation of the head-mounted device by utilizingupward/downward orientations of paired transceiver antennas incombination with circular or diversity polarized antennas to maintainrelative alignment as the head-mounted device is translated and/orrotated (e.g., by a user when engaging in a virtual realityapplication/program). Some of the examples disclosed herein utilizeoverhead signal reflectors to maintain these high bandwidth data rates.

As used herein the term “fixture” can refer to any mounting structureincluding, but not limited to, a ceiling, a ceiling mount, a fasteningdevice to suspend another item, a beam, a structure, a cable (e.g., atension cable, a vertical tension cable), an overhead mounting bracket,an elevated mount of a vertical wall and/or a roof mount, etc. As usedherein, the term “antenna” can refer to a single antenna or an antennaarray having multiple antennas and/or antenna elements. Accordingly, apolarization diversity antenna can encompass an antenna having discreteantennas/antenna elements (e.g., orthogonally arranged antennas).

FIG. 1A illustrates a known head-mounted virtual reality headset 100 inwhich the examples disclosed herein may be implemented. The headset 100,which is worn by a user 101, includes goggles (e.g., portable screengoggles, display goggles) 102 with a headband 104 to hold the headset100 in place relative to a head of the user 101. According to theillustrated example, the headset 100 may be translated (e.g., when theuser 101 moves) and/or rotated in at least three rotational axes, whichare depicted as axes 120, 122 and 124 corresponding to a pitch, a rolland a yaw, respectively, of the headset 100.

In operation, the user 101 is provided with images displayed on screensof the goggles 102, thereby providing an effect of a stereoscopic imageto the user 101. In this example, the goggles 102 include two displayscorresponding to respective eyes of the user 101. According to theillustrated example, movement of the headset 100 caused by movement ofthe user 101 is monitored to control and/or direct images (e.g.,rendered images) or video provided to the user 101 via the goggles 102.

FIG. 1B illustrates a known wireless virtual reality system 130. Thevirtual reality system 130 includes a base station (e.g., a desktopcomputer) 132 with a wireless transceiver (e.g., a transmitter/receiver,a wireless virtual reality signal hub, etc.) 134. In this example, aheadset 140 is wirelessly communicatively coupled to the base station132 via the wireless transceiver 134. According to the illustratedexample, the headset 140 includes a first radio front end module (RFEM)142 and a second RFEM 144, both of which are radio communicationmodules/circuits and/or antenna arrays that are oriented to face inopposed directions. In particular, the first RFEM 142 is orientedtowards a front of the user while the second RFEM 144 is orientedtowards the back of the user. The first RFEM 142 and the second RFEM 144have respective first and second transmission zones (e.g., areas above athreshold data transfer rate) 146 a, 146 b. In other words, both thefirst RFEM 142 and the second RFEM 144 have limited communicationviewing angles (e.g., line-of-sight angles) that are indicated asangular ranges (e.g., cones, elliptical cones, etc.). In this particularexample, each of the first and second transmission zones 146 a, 146 bhas an approximate angular coverage band of 120 degrees.

In operation, the first RFEM 142 communicates, transfers and/orexchanges data (e.g., display/rendering data for goggles of the headset140) with the transceiver 134 when the first transmission zone 146 a isoriented towards and positioned within a communication range and/orcommunication viewing angle (e.g., a communication view port) of thetransceiver 134. In other words, data transmission between the headset140 and the transceiver 134 is dependent on an orientation and/orposition of the headset 140. Accordingly, the second RFEM 144 transfersand/or exchanges data with the transceiver 134 when the secondtransmission zone 146 b is within the communication range and/orcommunication viewing angle of the second RFEM 144. While the examplevirtual reality system 130 can transition communication with thetransceiver 134 between the first RFEM 142 and the second RFEM 144, thevirtual reality system 130 includes communication gaps when motionand/or rotation of the user causes a transition between the first andsecond transmission zones 146 a, 146 b.

In this example, the first RFEM 142 and the second RFEM 144 operate as aphased array, in which one of the RFEMs 142, 144 is selected to create adata transmission link based of a respective gain at a given time. Inparticular, one of the first and second RFEMs 142, 144 is selected to bein wireless communication with the transceiver 134. However, whentransitioning between the first RFEM 142 and the second RFEM 144 (andvice-versa) such as during a handoff therebetween, a significant drop insignal strength may occur, thereby resulting in decreased communicationrates, interruption and/or data loss.

FIG. 1C illustrates another known wireless virtual reality system 150.The wireless virtual reality system 150 is similar to that shown in FIG.1B, but includes a headset 152 with both a first RFEM 154 as well as asecond RFEM 156 mounted to an anterior portion of the headset 152instead of being positioned at opposed sides of a user's head, as shownwith the example headset 140 of FIG. 1B. Further, in a manner similar tothat described in FIG. 1B, the first RFEM 154 and the second RFEM 156operate as phased arrays. In this example, the handoff between and/ortransition between the first RFEM 154 and the second RFEM 156 can causea decreased communication rate. Further, certain orientations of theheadset 152 can cause lapses or gaps in data transmissions from both ofthe RFEMs 154, 156.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example wireless virtual reality system 200 inaccordance with the teachings of this disclosure. The wireless virtualreality system 200 of the illustrated example includes a wearable device202, which is implemented as virtual reality goggles worn by a user 201.The example wearable device 202 includes goggles/screen mounts 204, andan antenna 206 positioned by an overhead strap 207 and mounted to anupper portion of the wearable device 202. The example antenna 206 isoriented in a generally upward direction when the user 201 is wearingthe wearable device 202. The example virtual reality system 200 alsoincludes an antenna 208 that is mounted to an overhead fixture (e.g., anoverhead support or beam, an overhead mount, a ceiling, etc.) 210, whichis a ceiling in this example. The antenna 208 of the illustrated exampleis oriented in a generally downward facing direction and iscommunicatively coupled to a base station (e.g., a computer) 214 via acable 212. In this example, the base station 214 generates or providesgraphic or image information to be displayed on the goggles 204.

To maintain data throughput and/or necessary data rates to maintainvisual fidelity (e.g., a displayed resolution) of a display associatedwith the goggles 204, the antenna 206 that is oriented in a directiongenerally upward towards the antenna 208 (in the view of FIG. 2),thereby defining a signal coverage area (e.g., a signal coverage areacone) 220 and, likewise, the antenna 208 that is generally orienteddownwards defines a signal coverage area 222 that is oriented towardsthe antenna 206. Further, at least one of the antenna 206 or the antenna208 implements polarization diversity or circular polarization. Bydefining the signal coverage area 220 and the signal coverage area 222in conjunction with this polarization, high bandwidth transmissions canbe effectively maintained between the base station 214 and the wearabledevice 202 even when the user 201 moves relatively quickly (e.g.,rotates spins, spins to turn, etc.) and/or produces significant lateralmovements that would otherwise fall outside of the typically narrowdirect coverage range of known antennas. As a result, in some examples,only a single antenna pair may be needed to maintain minimum signalthroughput to the wearable device 202, in some examples. In contrast andas described in connection with FIGS. 1A-1C, many known systems employmultiple antennas and/or RFEMs, which can have numerous associatedcomplexities (e.g., related to handoffs) as well as increased cost.

As mentioned above, at least one of the antenna 206 or the antenna 208is circular polarized and/or diversity polarized. For example, linearantenna elements of the antenna 206 and/or the antenna 208 may bepositioned or assembled to be perpendicular to one another. In someexamples, the antenna 206 and the antenna 208 have similar and/or thesame polarization (e.g., both of the antenna 206 and the antenna 208 arecircular polarized, a matching polarization). In examples where both ofthe antenna 206 and the 208 are circular polarized, for example, theantenna 206 and the 208 may be either right hand circular polarized orleft hand circular polarized. In other examples, the antenna 206 and theantenna 208 have different polarizations. In this example, the antenna206 and the antenna 208 communicate via a Wireless Gigabit Alliance(WiGig) standard. However, any appropriate communication standard and/orprotocol may be used instead.

While the example antenna 206 directly faces directly upward (in theview of FIG. 2) towards the antenna 208, in some examples, the antenna206 may be tilted away (e.g., five degrees away, fifteen degrees away,or any appropriate angle) from the antenna 206. While the fixture 210 ofthe example in FIG. 2 is a ceiling, the fixture 210 may be implementedas an overhead mount, an overhead beam and/or or a tension member (e.g.,a vertical cable, a vertical bar/beam, a hanging cable, etc.).

In some examples, the cable 212 transmits signals between the antenna208 and the base station 214 using the Thunderbolt or HDMI standard.However, any appropriate data transmission protocols(s) may be used. Insome other examples, the antenna 206 is mounted to a mechanical levelingor stabilizing device (e.g., a gyroscope, a gimbal, an automatedactuator and/or a leveler, etc.) that maintains an orientation of theantenna 206 in a generally upwards direction (in the view of FIG. 2)even when the user 201 moves and/or rotates/turns.

While the example disclosed in connection with FIG. 2 and, moregenerally, the examples disclosed herein are directed to virtual realitysystems, the examples disclosed herein may be applied to any wirelesstransmission and/or line-of-sight data transmission application.Accordingly, any of the examples disclosed herein may be applied to anyapplication necessitating high bandwidth and/or high frequency datatransmissions over relatively wide areas of coverage.

FIG. 3 is an overhead view of the example wireless virtual realitysystem 200 of FIG. 2 illustrating relative antenna coverage zones.According to the view of FIG. 3, the antenna 206 defines theaforementioned signal coverage area 220 while the antenna 208 definesthe signal coverage area 222, which overlaps with the signal coveragearea 220 to define an overlap region 302 therebetween. The overlapregion 302 enables significant lateral movement (e.g., left to rightmovement in the view of FIG. 3) to occur with little or no transmissiondata rate loss. In other words, the overlap region 302 defined by boththe signal coverage area 220 and the signal coverage area 222 enablesrelatively high data transmission to and from the base station 214 whenthe user 201 makes significant movements.

FIG. 4 is an overhead view of an alternative example virtual realitysystem 400 illustrating relative antenna coverage zones. In contrast tothe wireless virtual reality system 200 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, theexample virtual reality system 400 includes a diversity polarizedantenna 402 defining an extended overlap area between the antenna 402and the antenna 206 to maintain relatively high bandwidth datatransmission rates to support driving a display of the goggles 204. Inparticular, the antenna 402 of the illustrated example includes multipleantennas (e.g., an antenna array of two or more antennas and/or antennaarrays) that are arranged orthogonal to one another to define theextended overlap region. As a result of the extended overlap region,thereby enabling the user 201 to make significant movements in multipledirections without compromising fidelity of the experience.

According to the illustrated example, the aforementioned signal coveragearea 220 that corresponds to the antenna 206 is shown. Further, FIG. 4also depicts a first coverage zone 420 and a second coverage zone 422,both of which correspond to orthogonally arranged antennas/antennaelements of the diversity polarized antenna 402. As can be seen in thisexample, the first coverage zone 420 and the second coverage zone 422provide significant overlap to ensure that relatively high bandwidthdata rates are sustained, thereby enabling the user 201 to move inmultiple directions and/or orientations without significant reduction inthe rate at which data is transmitted to the wearable device 202.

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative example wireless virtual realitysystem 500. The example virtual reality system 500 is similar to thewireless virtual reality system 300 and the wireless virtual realitysystem 400, but instead operates by reflecting signals from an overheadsupport or ceiling mounted position (e.g., on a roof, an elevatedsupport structure, etc.) to the wearable device 202. As a result, inthis example, cabling is not required to the fixture 210, therebyreducing or eliminating any wiring/cabling along walls and/or ceilingsthat may be necessitated by overhead mounting of an antenna. The virtualreality system 500 of the illustrated example includes an antenna ortransceiver 502, and an overhead reflector 504 mounted to the fixture210. In this example, the reflector 504 is angled from horizontal (e.g.,5 to 40 degrees from a horizontal plane and/or ground or any othersuitable angle based on the location of the base station antenna),and/or a surface of the fixture 210 (e.g., a ceiling surface, etc.).

To maintain relatively high data rates between the antenna 206 and thebase station 214, the antenna 502 is oriented in a direction generallytowards the reflector 504 and, in turn, the reflector 504 reflects asignal from the antenna 502 towards the antenna 206, thereby defining asignal coverage area 510 that encompasses the user 201. In this example,the antenna 502 is circular polarized and/or diversity polarized.Additionally or alternatively, the antenna 206 is circular polarizedand/or diversity polarized.

In this example, the reflector 504 is composed of a metal material(e.g., steel, aluminum, etc.). In some examples, the reflector 504 iscomposed of a metal sheet or a metal mesh (e.g., similar to a microwaveoven mesh, a sheet metal mesh, etc.). However, any other appropriatematerial may be used, including non-metal materials. For example,polymers with embedded metallic materials and/or conductive polymers maybe used as long as they do not attenuate the signal below a usablelevel. In this example, the antenna 502 and the base station 214 arecommunicatively coupled via an HDMI or Thunderbolt signal protocol.However, any other appropriate protocol or transmission standard may beused.

FIG. 6 illustrates another example alternative wireless virtual realitysystem 600, which is similar to the virtual reality system 500 describedabove in connection with FIG. 5. However, instead of having a singlereflector, the virtual reality system of the 600 of the illustratedexample includes reflective panels 602 (hereinafter 602 a, 602 b, 602 c,etc.) mounted to the fixture 210. In other words, the virtual realitysystem 600 includes an array of the reflective panels 602.

According to the illustrated example, the base station 214 iscommunicatively coupled to the antenna 502 that is oriented in a generaldirection towards the reflective panels 602 and/or the fixture 210. Inturn, the downward reflections of signals, such as WiGig beam signals,transmitted by the antenna 502 define a signal coverage area 610 that isgenerally broadly distributed around the user 201. In this example, thereflective panels 602 have a relatively low profile height compared tothe signal reflector 504 of FIG. 5, thereby saving vertical space.

While three of the panels 602 are shown in the illustrated example, anyappropriate number of the panels 602 may be used (e.g., five, fifteen,thirty, one hundred, etc.) dependent on the application and/or anexpected area of movement of the user 201. In some examples, at leastone of the panels 602 is oriented differently from others of the panels602. In some examples, at least some of the panels 602 are actuatedand/or movable to be oriented (e.g., for adjustment and/or mechanicalsteering to track the user 201).

FIG. 7 is a schematic overview of an example steering control system 700that may be optionally implemented with or in conjunction with theexamples disclosed herein to enhance maintenance of greater coveragedistances. In particular, beam steering enables coverage ranges toincrease by moving/shifting the coverage area of at least one of theantennas. For example, the steering control system 700 may beimplemented in the antenna 206, the antenna 208, the wearable device202, the goggles 204, the antenna 402, the antenna 502 and/or the basestation 214.

According to the illustrated example, the steering control system 700includes a beam steering calculator 702 which, in turn, includes aposition and orientation analyzer 704, a signal analyzer 706 and asteering controller (e.g., a beam steering controller) 708. The examplesteering control system 700 also includes a transceiver controller 710that is communicatively coupled to the steering controller 708 via acommunication line 712, as well as the position and orientation analyzer704 via a communication line 714. Additionally or alternatively, in someexamples, the steering control system 700 includes a steeringactuator/motor 716, which may be implemented as a three-axis gimbal forexample.

To track and/or evaluate a movement (e.g., a lateral movement, a bendingmovement, a rate of movement, etc.) of the user 201 and, accordingly,direct beam steering, the position and orientation analyzer 704 of theillustrated example calculates and/or determines a position and/orrelative movement of the user 201 based on signals and/or signalstrength measurements determined by the signal analyzer 706. Forexample, the signal analyzer 706 determines a direction of movement ofthe user 201 away from a corresponding coverage zone based oncharacterizing measured decreasing signal strength from an antenna. Inturn, the position and orientation analyzer 704 of the illustratedexample calculates (e.g., triangulates) a position or movement vector ofthe user 201 away from the corresponding coverage zone. Additionally oralternatively, the signal analyzer 706 maps signal strength based ondifferent relative positions of the user 201 by using previouslymeasured signal strength measurements.

To direct beam steering of an antenna towards the wearable device 202based on the tracked movement of the user 201, the example steeringcontroller 708 directs beam steering via the transceiver controller 710.Additionally or alternatively, the steering controller 708 directsmovement of the steering actuator/motor 716 towards the user 201 and/ora predicted movement of the user 201. In other words, directionalcontrol of any of the antennas disclosed herein (e.g., wearable/headmounted or wired to a computer) may be implemented via beam steering ormechanical movement/actuation. In other examples, light markers and/orcamera-based tracking is used to supplement tracking of the user.Additionally or alternatively, the steering actuator/motor 716 is usedto move and/or angle the reflective panel 504 or the reflective panels602. For example, different panels of the reflective panel 602 may beangled differently relative to one another.

While an example manner of implementing the steering control system 700of FIG. 7 is illustrated in FIG. 7, one or more of the elements,processes and/or devices illustrated in FIG. 7 may be combined, divided,re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way.Further, position and orientation analyzer 704, the example signalanalyzer 706, the example steering controller 708 and the exampletransceiver controller 710 and/or, more generally, the example steeringcontrol system 700 of FIG. 7 may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware.Thus, for example, any of the example position and orientation analyzer704, the example signal analyzer 706, the example steering controller708 and the example transceiver controller 710 and/or, more generally,the example steering control system 700 could be implemented by one ormore analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmableprocessor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)),programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logicdevice(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of the apparatus or system claimsof this patent to cover a purely software and/or firmwareimplementation, at least one of the example, position and orientationanalyzer 704, the example signal analyzer 706, the example steeringcontroller 708, and/or the example transceiver controller 710 is/arehereby expressly defined to include a non-transitory computer readablestorage device or storage disk such as a memory, a digital versatiledisk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. including thesoftware and/or firmware. Further still, the example steering controlsystem 700 of FIG. 7 may include one or more elements, processes and/ordevices in addition to, or instead of, those illustrated in FIG. 7,and/or may include more than one of any or all of the illustratedelements, processes and devices.

A flowchart representative of example machine readable instructions forimplementing the steering control system 700 of FIG. 7 is shown in FIG.8. In this example, the machine readable instructions comprise a programfor execution by a processor such as the processor 912 shown in theexample processor platform 900 discussed below in connection with FIG.9. The program may be embodied in software stored on a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a harddrive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk, or a memoryassociated with the processor 912, but the entire program and/or partsthereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than theprocessor 912 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware.Further, although the example program is described with reference to theflowchart illustrated in FIG. 8, many other methods of implementing theexample steering controller 700 may alternatively be used. For example,the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of theblocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined. Additionallyor alternatively, any or all of the blocks may be implemented by one ormore hardware circuits (e.g., discrete and/or integrated analog and/ordigital circuitry, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), anApplication Specific Integrated circuit (ASIC), a comparator, anoperational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured toperform the corresponding operation without executing software orfirmware.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIG. 8 may be implementedusing coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readableinstructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/or machinereadable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-onlymemory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, arandom-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk inwhich information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended timeperiods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering,and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the termnon-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to includeany type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and toexclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media.“Including” and “comprising” (and all forms and tenses thereof) are usedherein to be open ended terms. Thus, whenever a claim lists anythingfollowing any form of “include” or “comprise” (e.g., comprises,includes, comprising, including, etc.), it is to be understood thatadditional elements, terms, etc. may be present without falling outsidethe scope of the corresponding claim. As used herein, when the phrase“at least” is used as the transition term in a preamble of a claim, itis open-ended in the same manner as the term “comprising” and“including” are open ended.

The example method 800 of FIG. 8 begins as the user 201 is using thewearable device 202 in a virtual reality application that utilizestwo-way communication between the wearable device 202 and the basestation 214. In particular, minimum data transmission rates are neededto maintain signal integrity of video/images that are generated/rendered(e.g., 3D rendered) by the base station 214 to be displayed by thegoggles 204.

According to the illustrated example, data is transmitted between afirst antenna (e.g., the antenna 206) of the wearable device 202 and asecond antenna (e.g., the antenna 208) associated with the base station214 (block 802). In this example, at least some of the data transmittedis related to graphics to be displayed by the goggles 204.

In this example, a movement and/or translation of the user 201 wearingthe wearable device is evaluated (block 804). In particular, as data istransmitted between the first and second antennas (e.g., two-waycommunication, one-way communication), the signal analyzer 706 measuressignal strength and/or maps signal strength to a position and/ordirectional movement of the user 201. For example, movement of the user201 may be evaluated relative to a corresponding coverage zone of thesecond antenna. Based on the measurement by the signal analyzer 706, theposition and orientation analyzer 704 calculates, determines and/orestimates a position or movement of the user 201. Additionally oralternatively, the position and orientation analyzer 704 predicts amovement of the user 201 out from the corresponding coverage zone basedon the tracked movement.

The example position and orientation analyzer 704 then determineswhether to enable beam steering (block 806). For example, the positionand orientation analyzer 704 determines whether the user 201 is movingaway or has moved away from a coverage zone and if the user 201 ismoving away from the coverage/antenna overlap zone, beam steering isdetermined to be enabled.

If it is determined to enable beam steering block (806), control of theprocess proceeds to block 808, in which the steering controller 708directs beam steering by directing the transceiver controller 710 (block808). Additionally or alternatively, mechanical steering via thesteering actuator/motor 716 is enabled. Otherwise, control of theprocess proceeds to block 810.

According to the illustrated example, it is then determine whether torepeat the process (block 810). If it is determined to repeat theprocess, control of the process proceeds to block 802. Otherwise, theprocess ends. In some examples, this determination may occur based onreceiving input from the user 201 instructing cessation of a virtualreality application.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 900 capableof executing the instructions of FIG. 8 to implement the steeringcontrol system 700 of FIG. 7. The processor platform 900 can be, forexample, a server, a personal computer, a mobile device (e.g., a cellphone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad™), a personal digitalassistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, a DVD player, a CD player, adigital video recorder, a Blu-ray player, a gaming console, a personalvideo recorder, a set top box, or any other type of computing device.

The processor platform 900 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 912. The processor 912 of the illustrated example is hardware.For example, the processor 912 can be implemented by one or moreintegrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors or controllers fromany desired family or manufacturer. The hardware processor may be asemiconductor based (e.g., silicon based) device. In this example, theprocessor 912 implements the example position and orientation analyzer704, the example signal analyzer 706, the example steering controller708 and the example transceiver controller 710.

The processor 912 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 913(e.g., a cache). The processor 912 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory including a volatile memory 914 and anon-volatile memory 916 via a bus 918. The volatile memory 914 may beimplemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), DynamicRandom Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM)and/or any other type of random access memory device. The non-volatilememory 916 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desiredtype of memory device. Access to the main memory 914, 916 is controlledby a memory controller.

The processor platform 900 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 920. The interface circuit 920 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 922 are connectedto the interface circuit 920. The input device(s) 922 permit(s) a userto enter data and/or commands into the processor 912. The inputdevice(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, amicrophone, a camera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, atouchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voicerecognition system.

One or more output devices 924 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 920 of the illustrated example. The output devices 924 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 920 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip and/or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 920 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network926 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.).

The processor platform 900 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 928 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 928 include floppy disk drives,hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, RAIDsystems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives.

The coded instructions 932 of FIG. 8 may be stored in the mass storagedevice 928, in the volatile memory 914, in the non-volatile memory 916,and/or on a removable tangible computer readable storage medium such asa CD or DVD.

Example 1 includes an overhead wireless transmission interface apparatusincluding a fixture to be mounted above a wearable device, the wearabledevice having a first antenna, and a base station associated with asecond antenna, where the second antenna is coupled to the fixture andis to wirelessly communicate with the first antenna, and where at leastone of the first antenna or the second antenna is circular polarized ordiversity polarized.

Example 2 includes the subject matter of Example 1, where the firstantenna and the second antenna have matching polarizations.

Example 3 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 or 2,where the wearable device is a virtual reality headset.

Example 4 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 to 3,where the first antenna is to face upwards in a direction generallytowards the fixture when a user wearing the wearable device ispositioned beneath the fixture.

Example 5 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 to 4, andfurther includes a third antenna operatively coupled to the fixture, thethird antenna having a different polarization from the second antenna.

Example 6 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 to 5,where the fixture is a ceiling.

Example 7 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 to 6, andfurther includes a steering controller to direct beam steering of atleast one of the first or second antennas.

Example 8 includes a wireless virtual reality headset including displaygoggles to display an image, and a wireless transceiver, where thewireless transceiver has a first antenna mounted to an upper portion ofthe virtual reality headset and is to be oriented in a generally upwarddirection from ground towards an overhead fixture that is coupled to asecond antenna or a signal reflector associated with the second antenna,and where the second antenna is associated with a base station togenerate the image.

Example 9 includes the subject matter of Example 8, and further includesa leveler to maintain the second antenna oriented in the generallyupward direction.

Example 10 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 8 or 9,and further includes a beam steering controller, and an actuator to bedirected by the beam steering controller to maintain alignment of thefirst antenna to the second antenna.

Example 11 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 8 to 10,where at least one of the first antenna or the second antenna iscircular polarized or diversity polarized.

Example 12 includes a wireless transmission interface apparatusincluding a fixture to be positioned above a wearable device, where thewearable device has a first antenna, and a signal reflector operativelycoupled to the fixture, where the signal reflector is to communicativelycouple the first antenna to a second antenna associated with a basestation, and where at least one of the first antenna or the secondantenna is circular polarized or diversity polarized.

Example 13 includes the subject matter of Example 12, where the signalreflector is angled from a horizontal plane defined by a ground abovewhich the fixture is positioned.

Example 14 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 12 or 13,where the signal reflector includes an array of reflective panels.

Example 15 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 12 to 14,where the first antenna and the second antenna have matchingpolarizations.

Example 16 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 12 to 15,where the wearable device is a wireless virtual reality headset.

Example 17 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 12 to 16,where the first antenna is to face upwards in a direction generallytowards the fixture when a user wearing the wearable device ispositioned beneath the fixture.

Example 18 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 12 to 17,and further includes a third antenna to be communicatively coupled tothe first antenna via the signal reflector, the third antenna having adifferent polarization from the second antenna.

Example 19 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 12 to 18,where the third antenna is oriented orthogonally to the second antenna.

Example 20 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 12 to 19,where the fixture is a ceiling.

Example 21 includes a method including transmitting data between a firstantenna associated with a base station and a second antenna associatedwith a wireless wearable device, where at least one of the first antennaor the second antenna is circular polarized or diversity polarized,evaluating a movement of a user wearing the wireless wearable device,and based on the evaluated movement of the user, enabling beam steeringof at least one of the first antenna or the second antenna.

Example 22 includes the subject matter of Example 21, where evaluatingthe movement includes determining a lateral movement or a bendingmovement of the user.

Example 23 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 21 or 22,where evaluating the movement includes determining a rate of movement ofthe user.

Example 24 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 21 to 23,where the first antenna is to generally face towards a signal reflector.

Example 25 includes a tangible machine readable medium comprisinginstructions, which when executed, cause a processor to at leastevaluate a movement of a user wearing the wireless wearable device basedon transmitted data between a first antenna associated with a basestation and a second antenna associated with a wireless wearable device,where at least one of the first antenna or the second antenna iscircular polarized or diversity polarized, and based on the evaluatedmovement of the user, enable beam steering of at least one of the firstantenna or the second antenna.

Example 26 includes the subject matter of Example 25, where theinstructions cause the processor to direct the beam steering.

Example 27 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 25 or 26,where the evaluation of the movement includes determining a lateralmovement or a bending movement of the user.

Example 28 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 25 to 27,where the evaluation of the movement includes determining a rate ofmovement of the user.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that example methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture have been disclosed that provide acost-effective and stable high bandwidth data connections between awireless wearable device and a corresponding base station. The examplesdisclosed herein enable high bandwidth data transmission rates even whena user wearing an antenna is making significant movements and/orrotations, thereby preventing or eliminating any potential reduction indata transmission rates that may significantly impair a user experience.

This patent arises as a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/668,534, which was filed on Aug. 3, 2017, and granted U.S. Pat. No.10,439,657, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/554,149, which wasfiled on Aug. 28, 2019. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/668,534 andU.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/554,149 are hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. Priority to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/668,534 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/554,149 ishereby claimed.

Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacturehave been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope ofthe claims of this patent. While the examples disclosed herein aredirected to virtual reality system data transmissions, the examplesdisclosed herein may be applied to any appropriate data communicationapplications involving relatively narrow transmission fields/beams.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless wearable device comprising: a firstantenna to communicate with a second antenna of a base station via anarray of reflective panels mounted to a fixture above the wirelesswearable device, the first antenna is circular polarized or diversitypolarized, the reflective panels angled from a horizontal plane definedby a surface above which the fixture is positioned; and an actuator todirect the first antenna toward at least one of the reflective panels.2. The wireless wearable device of claim 1, further including at leastone of a gimbal or a leveler to orient the first antenna toward the atleast one of the reflective panels.
 3. The wireless wearable device ofclaim 1, further including a headset.
 4. The wireless wearable device ofclaim 1, wherein the actuator is to move the first antenna based on asensed movement of a user wearing the wireless wearable device.
 5. Thewireless wearable device of claim 1, wherein the actuator is to move thefirst antenna based on a detected signal strength.
 6. The wirelesswearable device of claim 1, further including a position and orientationanalyzer to map a signal strength associated with the first antennabased on different positions of a user wearing the wireless wearabledevice.
 7. A method comprising: transmitting data from a first antennaassociated with a wireless wearable device to a second antennaassociated with a base station via an array of reflective panels mountedto a fixture above the wireless wearable device, the reflective panelsangled from a horizontal plane defined by a surface above which thefixture is positioned, the first antenna circular polarized or diversitypolarized; and directing the first antenna, via an actuator, to transmitsignals toward at least one of the reflective panels.
 8. The method asdefined in claim 7, further including evaluating a movement of a userwearing the wireless wearable device, wherein the moving of the firstantenna is based on the evaluated movement of the user.
 9. The method asdefined in claim 8, wherein the evaluating of the movement includesdetermining a lateral movement or a bending movement of the user. 10.The method as defined in claim 8, wherein the evaluating of the movementincludes determining a rate of movement of the user.
 11. The method asdefined in claim 8, wherein the actuator includes a first actuator, andfurther including moving a second actuator to orient at least one panelof the reflective panels toward the first antenna.
 12. The method asdefined in claim 11, wherein the moving of the second actuator includesmoving the second actuator based on movement of the user.
 13. The methodas defined in claim 11, further including moving the second antenna tobe oriented toward at least one of the reflective panels.
 14. Anon-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions, whichwhen executed, cause at least one processor to at least: evaluatemovement of a wireless wearable device; and orient a first antennaassociated with the wireless wearable device toward an array ofreflective panels mounted to a fixture positioned above the wearabledevice based on the movement of the wearable device, the first antennato communicate with a second antenna of a base station via at least oneof the reflective panels, the first antenna at least one of circularpolarized or diversity polarized, the reflective panels angled from ahorizontal plane defined by a surface above which the fixture ispositioned.
 15. The non-transitory machine readable medium as defined inclaim 14, wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor toenable beam steering of the first antenna based on the movement of thewireless device.
 16. The non-transitory machine readable medium asdefined in claim 14, wherein the instructions cause the at least oneprocessor to evaluate the movement by identifying a lateral movement ora bending movement of the wearable device.
 17. The non-transitorymachine readable medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructionscause the at least one processor to cause movement of a second actuatorto move at least one panel of the array of reflective panels.
 18. Thenon-transitory machine readable medium as defined in claim 17, whereinthe instructions cause the at least one processor to determine a rate ofmovement of the array of reflective panels based on the evaluatedmovement of the wireless wearable device.
 19. The non-transitory machinereadable medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructions causethe at least one processor to evaluate the movement based on measuredsignal strengths corresponding to data transmitted between the firstantenna and the second antenna.
 20. The non-transitory machine readablemedium as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructions cause the atleast one processor to instruct movement of the actuator based onmeasured bandwidth.